Laughing Til the Tears Came

Yay!! It has been a year since I started this blog and well I can say is THANK YOU!!!

Well, I am back from vacay after spending time with my family and friends. I was running on empty, but now I feel completely rejuvenated and ready to conquer these next hurdles to successfully close out 2010. A little time away from the rigorous routine and good people will always feed the soul.

It is funny, I may have missed some of the moments if I wasn’t told the first day I was home visiting with my family to “put that phone down.” In D.C. my blackberry lives within the security and comfort of my hands and I am often tweeting my experiences as they happen like most of my peers. It is also how my friends from anywhere in the world connect instantly and interactively with other mutual friends. It is genius.

However, back in the Deep South, prolonged phone use in the presence of others is still, even in 2010, considered rude. At first, I was prepared to defend my stance on how the world is now a hybrid. I have been well trained to multitask between my present reality and my virtual networks. But I knew my case would fall on deaf ears and instead took a moment to understand their point of view. Reluctantly, I placed my phone in my purse which is where it would remain for the majority of the trip.

While my phone was somewhere in the bottom of my purse, I had time to really enjoy the people I came to spend time with in the first place. I was able to take in entire conversations and laugh hard without having to pause my outbursts to inform my virtual network so they could laugh too. Usually, I would miss the next moment in my reality to respond the virtual reactions to my initial post about my reality. Then I have to ask what I missed in my reality while I was interacting virtually, and it is never as funny as hearing it in real time. I had forgot that laughing so hard and thoroughly bring tears to your eyes and eventually make your stomach ache…and your eyes sparkle and smile brighter.

So that is what I did. I took it all in and lived in the moment in the presence of those who I was physically around. And believe it or not, the world did not end. I know, it’s crazy.